F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 186: Trip

Two days had passed. Eve, Syl’Vyr, Faye, and Clarissa were brought to the castle by the demon king’s troops; they also brought all the puppets I had built, which is useful because it means I don’t have to remake the ones already finished.

Now we’re being moved to the area where we’ll be stationed for the war. All my puppets are being transported with the soldiers, while our nearby maidservants are being moved alongside my brothers’ nearby attendants in more suitable carriages.

And in the main carriage we’re riding in, it’s just me, Laplace, and Lucien, and the atmosphere is stifling, absolutely suffocating. Lucien won’t stop staring at Laplace, who’s sitting beside me. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Meanwhile, Laplace is trying to stay close to me as if using me as a shield against Lucien. She isn’t seeking protection—she genuinely seems to want to use me as a shield in case of an emergency, which makes her look pathetic. Besides, she’s bigger than me; I’d make a terrible shield.

"S-so... L-Lucien... how will the command be handled?" I ask while looking at my storage ring. The three books I use so often to learn about leadership are inside.

"Why are you asking me?" he says with a closed-off expression, without his usual excited and "animated" tone.

"W-well, it’s just... I-I only started leading things recently. I’m not capable of handling so much, like organizing how we’ll use a hundred thousand soldiers, and... Laplace doesn’t seem suited to lead it..." Normally, Lucien ignores Laplace.

But not because he’s forgiven "her"—it’s because Laplace is still strong and still a candidate for the throne. But now that Laplace is a girl, Lucien can’t ignore the person he hates most while she’s in a weakened state.

"Let’s do it this way, then. I’ll command forty thousand, Laplace will command thirty thousand, and you’ll command the other thirty thousand." When he says that, I think about the numbers. I bite my lips. Thirty thousand? There’s no way I can lead that many people with my reputation for being weak.

"I don’t think I can... B-but I could lead ten thousand. A-and I can also turn corpses into soldiers... s-so we could increase the number of troops using the dead." When I say this, Lucien seems momentarily irritated.

"Ten thousand... you said using corpses? What ratio?" His question surprises me because he seems genuinely interested, but his interest feels more like passing the time than really caring about how much I can do or how strong they’d be.

"Three to one." With three corpses, I can make one standard-quality puppet. Using fewer makes it more difficult and time-consuming, and since it’s a war, it’s better to spend more to produce something good quickly.

"Fine... then I’ll command sixty thousand soldiers, Laplace commands thirty thousand, and you command ten thousand." Lucien keeps the largest share for himself, even though he could have split it forty-five thousand each.

’Seems he doesn’t trust Laplace much...’ Not that I do either. Laplace seems much more "fragile" now, and if she doesn’t lead well, it’ll just cause problems. And I don’t want trouble because of her.

’War is terrible... this will be the first time I fight on a battlefield with so much death... b-but Esther wrote in the books that we should always see it as an opportunity...’ I think about that, trying to find the positive opportunity in it.

When I first appeared in this world, I wanted to become an adventurer to accumulate materials and make lots of puppets. This war could do that for me. I can use the dead to form a puppet army. It’s an opportunity because the puppets will remain with me after the war.

’Opportunity... Opportunity... Opportunity... Opportunity... Opportunity... I just need to see it as an opportunity that will reward me... E-Esther will be proud when she sees I’ve formed my own army...’ I take a deep breath, trying to shift my focus, because thinking about using dead bodies bothers me.

"Yes, Lucien, that division sounds great. Laplace doesn’t have any objections either, right?" I ask, staring at Laplace. She clearly doesn’t want to expose herself in a leadership role, but she knows Lucien won’t kill her over something so minor—and she shouldn’t provoke Lucien.

"It’s fine..." Laplace says, looking down. Her tail with the heart-shaped tip wraps around her own leg protectively. I should say her tail looks cute—it’s long and thin with a kind of cute heart-shaped tip. If it weren’t for that piece of shit Laplace, I’d love to look at it more.

"..." We fall silent again as I look out the window, watching the trees speed by absurdly fast, until a strange curiosity occurs to me—one that’s also logical enough to make me want to ask.

"Wait, Laplace, how are you going to feed yourself now?" I ask before my mind really thinks about the method. But as I say it, I remember: succubi feed on vitality, drained from sexual acts with the opposite sex.

"..." Lucien gives an amused smile as if the question is a very good one, while Laplace stares at me as if I’ve committed a terrible crime. She looks like she wants to kill me right now.

’Ah, yes... of course, if the gender changed, then he now has to take vitality from men...’ Succubi need to take vitality from the opposite gender. They can take some vitality from beings of the same gender, but not enough to survive for long unless that being has an enormous amount of vitality—like Grace, for example, or me, since I have a lot of vitality.

Not that I’d help someone as repulsive as Laplace. The only person who might help Laplace at most would be Grace, who is genuinely good and sincere in her choices.

"Ah, yes, how could I forget that? You have succubus blood. Seems the tables have really turned, haven’t they?" Lucien says with a disturbing smile. He was so blinded by hatred he forgot Laplace’s race.

"..." Laplace doesn’t defend herself or deny it. There’s nothing to deny—it’s a racial trait. Just like dragons like me need to hoard things, I decide to stop thinking about it and instead think about all the gold I’m accumulating.

’How much gold will the demon king pay me?’ I haven’t seen the mansion’s vault yet, but I know it’s full of gold for me. Thinking about all that gold gives me a certain peace of mind, just like thinking about the rewards Esther will give me.

’I should write a letter to Esther... I’m sure she’ll be impressed! Our father praised me...’ The demon king even gave me this mission, showing that the information I obtained from the last mission gave me some degree of importance.

"Lucien, do you know what Esther likes?" I try to ask more casual questions just to make conversation. Lucien and Esther have participated in war missions together before, so he might know something useful.

’By the way, if Grace isn’t with either of them... then Grace must be either with Augustus or with Marie...’ I wonder who Grace chose to "attack" romantically.

"Esther... how should I know? That woman is strange. But if it’s about her race, I can say something, since I have some ’allies’ who are Ghouls." When Lucien says that, I understand he’s referring to the black market, since he has many contacts there and always goes to that shady place.

’Ghoul...’ I don’t know much about that race. I only know Esther is one because her mother is a Ghoul, but the game never explained much about the throne candidates’ races, since their families didn’t appear, so their races were generally mysteries.

"If you could tell me something, I’d be very grateful..."

"Ghouls like blood." That’s all he says. I wait for more, but he genuinely seems to have nothing else, which bothers me a little.

"That’s it?" I ask, confused, hoping there’s more. Saying Ghouls like blood doesn’t help me at all! I already knew Ghouls like blood!!!

"Yes, it’s not very complicated. Ghouls like blood and meat, especially if it’s fresh. That goes for all Ghouls. Esther must like it too." He stops talking and looks out the window, starting to ignore me after giving an answer that doesn’t help at all.

But I realize something from his answer—something I had sort of ignored. I knew Ghouls liked blood, but I was involuntarily separating Esther from Ghouls! But she’s still a Ghoul!

’It’s not... oh... that explains the biting...’ I kind of already knew this, but hearing someone else say it made me understand it from a different perspective. So Esther’s biting now makes more sense instead of being something she did out of nowhere.

’It doesn’t make sense for an entire race to like the same thing... so maybe the Ghoul race has some issue related to food?’ Sometimes, during the time I spent with Esther, she would give strange looks to my body and lick her lips.

’Well, I guess it doesn’t matter...’ I haven’t reached the point of intentionally trying to give my blood to Esther. Besides, it would be weird and bizarre. Just imagine! Me sending my blood along with letters! It would be bizarre. Obviously, I... wouldn’t do that... of course not!!

’Haaa... I hope this trip ends soon. It’s suffocating being here...’ It seems neither of them wants to talk, and I don’t want to talk anymore either, so all I can do is hope we arrive soon.

I take the moment to take one of the books from my storage ring to read. I’ll use this idle time to rest, even though I’m somewhat angry about it.

Every time I’m doing something long-term, the demon king ruins it! First my adventurer’s post, and now the things I was building! I had plans to expand the village and the camp! But now I can’t anymore!!